diff --git a/extensions/qa-lab/src/providers/mock-openai/server.test.ts b/extensions/qa-lab/src/providers/mock-openai/server.test.ts
index 2ef78728a7f..beec8f7f268 100644
--- a/extensions/qa-lab/src/providers/mock-openai/server.test.ts
+++ b/extensions/qa-lab/src/providers/mock-openai/server.test.ts
@@ -4265,6 +4265,34 @@ describe("qa mock openai server", () => {
     expect(body.error.message).toContain("Malformed JSON body");
   });
 
+  it("rejects malformed OpenAI-compatible JSON without crashing the mock server", async () => {
+    const server = await startQaMockOpenAiServer({
+      host: "127.0.0.1",
+      port: 0,
+    });
+    cleanups.push(async () => {
+      await server.stop();
+    });
+
+    for (const path of ["/v1/responses", "/v1/embeddings", "/v1/images/generations"]) {
+      const response = await fetch(`${server.baseUrl}${path}`, {
+        method: "POST",
+        headers: { "content-type": "application/json" },
+        body: "{bad",
+      });
+
+      expect(response.status).toBe(400);
+      const body = (await response.json()) as {
+        error: { type: string; message: string };
+      };
+      expect(body.error.type).toBe("invalid_request_error");
+      expect(body.error.message).toContain("Malformed JSON body");
+    }
+
+    const health = await fetch(`${server.baseUrl}/healthz`);
+    expect(health.status).toBe(200);
+  });
+
   it("defaults empty-string Anthropic /v1/messages model to claude-opus-4-8", async () => {
     // Regression for the loop-7 Copilot finding: a bare `typeof
     // body.model === "string"` check lets an empty-string model leak
diff --git a/extensions/qa-lab/src/providers/mock-openai/server.ts b/extensions/qa-lab/src/providers/mock-openai/server.ts
index 288d40b2db1..660a31ba1d3 100644
--- a/extensions/qa-lab/src/providers/mock-openai/server.ts
+++ b/extensions/qa-lab/src/providers/mock-openai/server.ts
@@ -228,6 +228,23 @@ function readBody(req: IncomingMessage): Promise<string> {
   });
 }
 
+function parseOpenAiJsonBody(raw: string): Record<string, unknown> | null {
+  try {
+    return raw ? (JSON.parse(raw) as Record<string, unknown>) : {};
+  } catch {
+    return null;
+  }
+}
+
+function writeOpenAiMalformedJsonError(res: ServerResponse, label: string) {
+  writeJson(res, 400, {
+    error: {
+      type: "invalid_request_error",
+      message: `Malformed JSON body for ${label} request.`,
+    },
+  });
+}
+
 function transcriptionTextForAudioRequest(rawBody: string) {
   if (rawBody.length >= QA_GROUP_AUDIO_MIN_MULTIPART_BODY_CHARS) {
     return QA_GROUP_AUDIO_TRANSCRIPTION_TEXT;
@@ -3418,7 +3435,11 @@ export async function startQaMockOpenAiServer(params?: { host?: string; port?: n
       }
       if (req.method === "POST" && url.pathname === "/v1/images/generations") {
         const raw = await readBody(req);
-        const body = raw ? (JSON.parse(raw) as Record<string, unknown>) : {};
+        const body = parseOpenAiJsonBody(raw);
+        if (!body) {
+          writeOpenAiMalformedJsonError(res, "OpenAI Images");
+          return;
+        }
         imageGenerationRequests.push(body);
         if (imageGenerationRequests.length > 20) {
           imageGenerationRequests.splice(0, imageGenerationRequests.length - 20);
@@ -3442,7 +3463,11 @@ export async function startQaMockOpenAiServer(params?: { host?: string; port?: n
       }
       if (req.method === "POST" && url.pathname === "/v1/embeddings") {
         const raw = await readBody(req);
-        const body = raw ? (JSON.parse(raw) as Record<string, unknown>) : {};
+        const body = parseOpenAiJsonBody(raw);
+        if (!body) {
+          writeOpenAiMalformedJsonError(res, "OpenAI Embeddings");
+          return;
+        }
         const inputs = extractEmbeddingInputTexts(body.input);
         writeJson(res, 200, {
           object: "list",
@@ -3464,7 +3489,11 @@ export async function startQaMockOpenAiServer(params?: { host?: string; port?: n
       }
       if (req.method === "POST" && url.pathname === "/v1/responses") {
         const raw = await readBody(req);
-        const body = raw ? (JSON.parse(raw) as Record<string, unknown>) : {};
+        const body = parseOpenAiJsonBody(raw);
+        if (!body) {
+          writeOpenAiMalformedJsonError(res, "OpenAI Responses");
+          return;
+        }
         const input = Array.isArray(body.input) ? (body.input as ResponsesInputItem[]) : [];
         const events = await buildResponsesPayload(body, scenarioState);
         const resolvedModel = typeof body.model === "string" ? body.model : "";